HB366 Summary

• Renames the "Student Harassment Prevention Act" to the "Jamari Terrell Williams Student Bullying Prevention Act" and replaces the term "harassment" with "bullying" throughout the statute.

• Expands the definition of bullying to include student-against-student conduct occurring off school property, on school buses, and at school-sponsored functions, as well as cyberbullying and written, electronic, verbal, or physical acts.

• Requires written complaints to be filed by affected students or their parents/guardians (not school employees on their behalf) and mandates complaint forms be prominently posted on school websites, available in school offices, and included in student handbooks.

• Directs schools to develop anti-bullying plans including peer mediation teams, programmatic education on bullying at the start of each school year, and periodic faculty-student committees to review bullying and school safety issues.

• Requires the State Department of Education to develop a model anti-bullying policy with specific components including definitions, graduated consequences, reporting procedures, investigation protocols, and protections against retaliation.

• Becomes effective on the first day of the third month following passage and approval.